


glow

by dendryllio



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Middle School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Chess, Cute, First Kiss, Fluff, LMAO, M/M, Middle School, School Dances, awkward middle schoolers slow dancing, based on the authors real middle school experience, glow sticks, middle schoolers who have no idea how kissing works, really bad first kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28036260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dendryllio/pseuds/dendryllio
Summary: “Pawn G 3, CHECKMATE!” Sokka shot up from his seat, doing his trademark little victory dance as he was shushed by Iroh, their chess coach. There were 3 other games going on in the chess club room and they were used to this bullshit by now.“Hey, you should go to the dance with me next week.”“What.” Zuko deadpanned as he packed up his chess pieces. His uncle/coach gave him a look. A ‘you two would be good together look,’ not that two prepubescent eighth grade boys, who hadn’t even learned how to be normal people yet would get in a committed relationship, but they would be cute nonetheless.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	glow

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinking about my middle school crush yesterday for some ungodly reason and i realized the dynamic we had was similar to sokka and zuko’s and the story of us going to the eighth grade dance was pretty funny, so here we are.
> 
> most things in this fic actually happened, including the capitalism joke and the chasing in the name of a glow stick, but we didn’t kiss LMAO also his dad was the chess coach so i though making iroh the coach would be perfect
> 
> also i do not condone the listening to/playing of/even thinking of any ed sheeran song /hj
> 
> ok now i have to promote my [original novella](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003341) that i’m working on, it’s a lot heavier than this but please please check it out i’m very proud of it lmao
> 
> anyways please enjoy middle schoolers being dumb

“King H 2.” Sokka had a smirk on his face as he smugly hit the button on his chess timer.

Zuko groaned, head in his hands. Sokka had a mate in two and he couldn’t do anything. He begrudgingly moved his chess piece.

“Rook. F. 1.” The smaller chess player glared at Sokka.

“Pawn G 3, CHECKMATE!” Sokka shot up from his seat, doing his trademark little victory dance as he was shushed by Iroh, their chess coach. There were 3 other games going on in the chess club room and they were used to this bullshit by now.

“Hey, you should go to the dance with me next week.” 

“What.” Zuko deadpanned as he packed up his chess pieces. His uncle/coach gave him a  _ look.  _ A ‘you two would be good together look,’ not that two prepubescent eighth grade boys, who hadn’t even learned how to be normal people yet would get in a committed relationship, but they would be cute nonetheless.

“It would be fun,” he said, a tad bit quieter. Sokka sat back down, still doing his victory dance even if it was toned down now that he was back in his chair. “We could dance together,” he mimicked a waltz from where he was sitting. “We could kiss,” he made obscene kissing noises and Zuko cringed, Aang laughing from the table next to them as he brought his hand down on the designated button on the timer.

“If I go with you.  _ If.  _ We are not kissing. We’re probably not slow dancing either unless you swear to not embarrass me, but I’m pretty sure you’re not capable of that anyways.

Sokka made puppy dog eyes, holding his pinky out for a swear. 

“Promise on my dead mom and my 13 chess trophies. Oh, and my dick.” He waggled his eyebrows obscenely as Iroh playfully smacked him over the back of the head.

From where Zuko’s uncle stood behind Sokka, he winked and mouthed ‘go with him,’ at his nephew. Zuko groaned and slammed his head down on the chess board, Sokka’s pieces that he hadn’t yet put away flying off the table.

“Pick those up and I’ll go with you.”

Sokka quickly ducked under the table to grab the pawns and the knight before standing and waving his full hands in the air, doing that dumb fucking victory dance.

*

“-and then she fell over!” Toph said loudly, the circle of friends around her breaking out into laughter, Sokka tearing up as he smacked his knee with his hand, a petal falling off his corsage with the movement. 

Zuko shuffled awkwardly, not really knowing any of Sokka’s friends, not knowing much of anyone for that matter, which made it even more nice that his uncle worked at the school, even if he only saw him after school two times a week.

Sokka finally caught his breath when he finished laughing, tears streaming down his face and belly aching, turning to look at Zuko. His demeanor turned serious as he pulled his date aside.

“Are you okay?”

Zuko appreciated the gesture, he had been worried that he would feel left out, never having been to a dance before.

“Yeah I just- I don’t really know anyone but you and Aang, and I not that close with him anyways, so it’s kinda hard to get all the inside jokes whe-“

“We should go get some pizza and sodas. And I won’t hang out with them too much anymore. Don’t want you to feel like you don’t get anything, that’s a bad feeling. I’ll just stick with you.”

Zuko smiled although he wouldn’t admit it and nodded, Sokka dragging him by the wrist over to the snack tables, a petal falling from Zuko’s corsage.

*

“Oh my god! Ed Sheeran, it’s a slow song!” Sokka put his pizza and soda down. “Zukooo, we gotta slow dance, we  _ gotta!  _ It’s THINKING OUT LOUD how could we not?!” He was jumping up and down by this point as the other couples in the courtyard awkwardly paired up and stiffly rocked back and forth.

Zuko didn’t get a chance to answer before he was pulled into the crowd, the two boys assuming the same position as the kids around them.

Sokka had his hands on either side of Zuko’s waist, barely touching him, and Zuko’s arms were draped over Sokka’s shoulders, unbent and sticking out from behind the taller boy’s head.

They made accidental eye contact for a moment and both blushed heavily, immediately looking away, Sokka at the sky and Zuko at one of the couples dancing behind Sokka.

“This is- nice.” Sokka felt obligated to say something.

“Yeah.” Zuko took a sharp breath. “Yeah this is nice I guess.”

Sokka looked back at Zuko, loosening up just a bit and giving him a quirky look.

“You guess? This is amazing, you must be in love with me by now.”

“Shut up, I’m not in love with you.”

“Sure, sure. You know no woman or man on earth can resist my charms.” Sokka removed a hand from Zuko’s waist to flip his long hair over his shoulder, giving a smoldering look to the shorter middle schooler. Zuko couldn’t help but laugh and his arms unstiffened, bent over Sokka’s shoulders now, wrists hooked behind him.

He looked into Sokka’s eyes, immediately regretting it and flushing from the tips of his ears down to his chest.

Sokka’s eyebrows raised. “I know you’re obsessed with meee,” he quoted the dumb tiktok sound and Zuko groaned, sighing in relief as the song finished up and they pulled away from each other like they were burnt.

The dj turned the music to something upbeat and started throwing heaps of glow sticks into the courtyard full of kids. A few students started grabbing as many as they could and Zuko and Sokka exchanged a look. 

“We gotta get more than them,” Sokka said, competitiveness taking him over.

“Yeah. Let’s split up, I’ll take the left side and you take the right.”

The two shook hands before running in opposite directions.

*

The boys met back in the middle in 15 or so minutes, carrying heaps and heaps of glowing bracelets and necklaces. They sat down on the grass and started laughing, Zuko falling onto his back.

“You guys are hogging all the glow sticks,” some kid said, arms crossed as he glared at them. “You gotta give us some.”

“No we don’t.” Sokka held his stash tighter but Zuko tapped him on the shoulder, whispering something about being nicer.

“Fine, but only one each.”

They handed out glow sticks to their fellow classmates and Sokka made a dumb joke about capitalism that made Zuko double over laughing.

Soon enough, people stopped asking for them and the boys stuffed the rest in their pockets, glowing lines sticking out of everywhere on their person.

And another slow song came on.

This time Zuko stood, reaching out his hand to help Sokka to his feet, and they assumed the position they had earlier. It was easier this time, and Zuko rested his head on Sokka’s shoulder, the two boys quietly making fun of the other people around them and how awkward they looked, laughing softly at each other’s insulting jokes.

As the song neared its end, Sokka felt a soft pressure on his back. He whipped around and caught Toph yanking a glow stick from his back pocket.

“You dirty thief!” 

Sokka chased his friend around the courtyard, weaving in between the pairs of students dancing, who soon enough separated as the music picked up again. Toph was a track star and Sokka didn’t stand a chance but Zuko assumed they were having fun anyways, smiling endearingly as he watched the scene from the uncomfortable metal folding chair by where they had left their sodas.

A few minutes later, Sokka came up to him and dropped to the floor, out of breath and grasping for his drink to chug the rest of it down.

“Was that fun?”

“Yeah, I got my glow stick back and that’s all that matters.”

Zuko giggled and Sokka reached back to playfully smack his calf, Zuko squealing exaggeratedly.

The smaller eighth grader felt a pulse in his back pocket, pulling out his phone to see a text from Iroh letting him know he was there to pick them up. Zuko let Sokka know about the situation and stood up with his date, leading him towards the parking lot.

“That was fun.”

“Really fun, Sokka replied, taking a breath before grabbing Zuko’s hand and turning towards him, leaning in for a kiss.

He opened his mouth and lightly pressed his lips over the side of Zuko’s mouth. Sokka didn’t really know how kissing worked, but he assumed this was it. 

Zuko blushed but let Sokka do his thing, intertwining their fingers and dragging him to the car.

Iroh gave him an exaggerated eyebrow waggle when he noticed their hands and Zuko stuck his tongue out at his uncle, letting go of Sokka’s fingers to get in the car.

“How was it, guys?”

“It was fun,” Zuko said simply.

“Yeah.”

Sokka smiled as Zuko fell asleep on his shoulder on the ride home, wrapping his arm around his smaller friend and smirking at Iroh through the rear-view mirror.

Iroh smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> [the checkmate sokka used because the author is a major chess nerd](https://imgur.com/gallery/m2LYld6)
> 
> kudos and comments are greatly appreciated, peace & love & happy chanukkah !


End file.
